Refs Biased Towards the Home Team, Finds Research

So a “new” (at least to me) study found what we already new: referees are biased towards the home team. The study called “The Influence of Social Forces: Evidence from the Behavior of Football Referees” by Thomas J. Dohmen was published in the Economic Inquiry in July of ­2008. One of the findings is that refs called 5-15 less fouls against the home team. The reason for this is still unknown, but according to the researcher, a possible explanation is “that social pressure from the crowd directly affects the referee”.

Spotted at Wired.

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